Rocky Point man faces Leandra's Law charge

A Rocky Point man faces felony charges of driving drunk under Leandra's Law after his sport utility vehicle with a 2-year-old passenger went airborne Thursday in Speonk before striking a utility pole head on, Southampton Town police said. Police said neither Timothy J. Shaw, 34, nor the child was injured, although the child was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead for observation. It...

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A Rocky Point man faces felony charges of driving drunk under Leandra's Law after his sport utility vehicle with a 2-year-old passenger went airborne Thursday in Speonk before striking a utility pole head on, Southampton Town police said.

Police said neither Timothy J. Shaw, 34, nor the child was injured, although the child was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead for observation.

It was unclear whether the child was Shaw's; police, who did not identify the gender of the child, were not immediately available for comment.

Police said Shaw was driving a 2001 Subaru Forester at a "high rate of speed" east on Montauk Highway at about 7:30 p.m. The vehicle struck an embankment, went airborne -- clearing a 4-foot high residential fence -- and then hit the utility pole head on, police said.

Shaw was arrested on two felony counts of driving while intoxicated -- one because he had a previous DWI conviction within the past 10 years -- and endangering the welfare of a child, police said.

The second felony charge, under Leandra's Law, passed in November 2009, is based on Shaw being accused of driving while intoxicated with a child younger than 16 years old.

The law was passed after the death of Leandra Rosado, 11, who was killed in an DWI accident after the minivan in which she was a passenger crashed on West Side Highway in Manhattan.

Child Protective Services was notified about the child, and Shaw is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Southampton Town Justice Court.

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